To continue bringing our mission “Health for all, Hunger for none” to life, we began introducing a new operating model called Dynamic Shared Ownership (DSO) in 2024. This operating model is aligned even more closely to the needs of our customers and enables our employees to better meet these needs and thus deploy resources more efficiently.
Material impacts, risks and opportunities and their interaction with strategy and business model [S1.SBM-3]
Our impacts on our own workforce as a result of our strategy or business model can vary widely depending on the workplace. We invest heavily in research and development to meet the global demand for innovative solutions in the areas of healthcare and agriculture. This is why we need qualified specialists, whom we want to retain within the company over the long term.
At the same time, advancing and evolving digitalization can lead to changes in various procedures, which brings efficiency gains but can also necessitate the continuing education and retraining of employees. As a global company with employees all over the world, we have to consider different cultural issues both globally and regionally. We therefore promote intercultural competencies and want to ensure fairness and respect at work.
We place high value on the continuous development of our employees and therefore support career development, thereby at the same time strengthening employee retention. We apply a proactive approach that enables our employees to learn and undergo individual and autonomous training to develop their skills.
In this report, “employees” are all persons who have a contractual employment relationship with Bayer according to national law or national practice. This includes full- and part-time employees, interns and apprentices. “Nonemployees” are employees of recruitment agencies (contractors).
Our employees can be exposed to various impacts in a systemic or individual context. For example, changes in our business activity such as through internal restructuring measures can result in our employees and contractors experiencing concerns about their jobs. This could have both individual and collective impacts on the way of working and on the well-being of the respective groups. Furthermore, systemic impacts could occur if Bayer were to be unable to pay adequate wages. In this case, the employees could have difficulty meeting basic cultural and social living standards. In addition, inadequate representation of employees’ interests during management decisions could mean that their voices are not sufficiently heard. In an individual context, negative impacts could occur if employees suffer physical or psychological injuries due to work-related incidents or violence at the workplace.
We also contribute to positive impacts for our employees through our business activities and in particular through our new operating model Dynamic Shared Ownership (DSO), which is aimed at enabling us to leverage the full potential of our businesses. Through DSO, we are striving to build a successful organization that focuses fully on our mission “Health for all, Hunger for none” and on creating value for farmers, patients and consumers, as well as for our employees, investors and other stakeholders. To achieve this, our DSO model breaks down hierarchy levels and bureaucracy in the company to accelerate decision-making processes and enable employees to act more independently. The goal here is to achieve greater employee participation and satisfaction, as employees can better contribute their skills, supported by a feedback-based company culture that promotes social dialogue. A more agile and more efficient organization based on DSO is additionally intended to better address the challenges of the market. The diversity of Bayer’s teams reflects different perspectives, which leads to better decision-making processes. Bayer also offers continuous training measures that improve the employability of our people and prepare them to meet the challenges of the employment market. Training measures to increase awareness of human rights also help to create a respectful and integrative working environment. Health and safety in the workplace are also very important to us as an employer, promoting the well-being of all employees. We want these positive impacts to materialize not just in certain countries or regions, but throughout all the company’s sites worldwide.
The opportunities we see presented by DSO are that our employees have greater influence over decision-making processes in a flatter hierarchy and can become more involved. This can boost motivation and additionally strengthen our company’s innovation power. Independently of DSO, risks exist for Bayer in connection with its workforce that can involve potential loss of reputation and legal consequences if fairness and respect are not ensured in the workplace. Furthermore, employees could be placed at risk by violence in the workplace.
We do not tolerate the use of child labor as described in ILO conventions No. 138 (Minimum Age) and No. 182 (Worst Forms of Child Labour). Children’s development must not be hindered. In cases in which young workers are employed, they must not perform tasks that are mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous or that impair their school education. Appropriate steps must be taken to protect their health and safety. We do not have any evidence that there is an increased risk of child labor in our own operations.
We also do not tolerate any form of modern slavery, bondage or serfdom, forced or compulsory labor including bonded labor or indentured servitude, or involuntary prison labor or any form of human trafficking. We undertake to comply with ILO conventions No. 29 (Forced Labour) and No. 105 (Abolition of Forced Labour), as well as the Protocol of 2014 to Convention No. 29, and to identify and prohibit modern slavery of any type in our business activity and value chains. We do not have any evidence that there is an increased risk of any form of modern slavery in our own operations.
In some work environments, there is a risk that employees could suffer physical or psychological health impairments due to the work assigned to them or in the case of safety incidents. This applies particularly to all employees who work with hazardous materials or under dangerous conditions. To protect our employees, we have established extensive management systems for occupational safety (including an assessment of the respective workplaces and tasks) and health protection (including health screening). Our work organization also involves intensive familiarization and training measures (e.g. in the area of chemicals). In this way, we have an understanding of possible negative impacts and want to promote a healthy work environment. To create fair and respectful relationships in the workplace, we have introduced strict rules that are also part of our Code of Conduct (“Fairness and Respect at Work” section). In this way, we want to protect all our employees from unfair or unethical treatment at work for example. We promote a culture of appreciation that enables our employees to unlock their potential.
Our principles regarding our own workforce [S1-1]
Our Human Rights Policy comprises clear standards and rules that apply at Bayer, including and particularly in relation to child labor and forced labor (including human trafficking). Our Human Rights Policy obligates us to respect human rights within our own operations and promote them in our business relationships. This applies to all Bayer employees worldwide and also includes the entire value chain. It is therefore just as applicable to our suppliers, business partners, customers, consumers and local communities.
Human rights standards serve as a guide for our decision-making processes and our constructive engagement for human rights both inside and outside the company. In accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), we apply a risk-based approach that takes into account the current legal situation and builds on existing (internal) processes:
Risk management system for conducting a comprehensive risk analysis
Reporting of the results of the risk analysis to the Board of Management and further responsible decision-makers in order that action plans can be developed to counteract and limit risks and negative impacts in human rights matters
Regular review of the risk management approach for human rights and monitoring of the implementation of our commitments along the entire value chain by the respective responsible persons, including determining the effectiveness of the measures for dealing with human rights risks and developing improvement measures
Continuous documentation of and reporting on the measures and annual progress with regard to human rights due diligence
Our commitment to respect human rights is based on the UNGPs, which assign clear responsibilities to governments and companies as regards human rights, and on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. This commitment includes internationally recognized human rights in accordance with the International Bill of Human Rights and the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The International Bill of Human Rights consists of the following elements:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
We always act in accordance with national law. Where discrepancies exist between national law and international standards, we principally observe the more stringent standards.
The Bayer risk portfolio is compiled in consultation with the risk owners of the divisions and enabling functions and regularly reviewed by the Assurance Committee. Six priority topics were determined in this connection: the right to health, responsible management of resources, protection against child labor, the right to freedom from slavery, serfdom and forced labor, the right to fair and favorable working conditions and the right to freedom of association.
Our Code of Conduct includes the “Health & Safety” section, the importance of which is underscored for our employees and the entire value chain in our mission “Health for all, Hunger for none.” We use suitable management systems and processes to comply with our occupational health and safety standards for our employees. Details are described in our Health, Safety, Environment (HSE) Management and HSE Key Requirements Policy. The management systems enable us to identify and reduce occupational safety risks that could lead to serious personal injuries should they materialize. By investigating incidents and potentially serious events, we can help prevent further events and thus promote a safety culture and a healthy work environment. The management systems also support compliance with legal requirements pertaining to occupational health and safety and help to avoid operational disruptions and protect the company’s reputation.
Other clear priorities of our Human Rights Policy include the topics of discrimination, harassment and equal employment opportunity. It establishes the basic principle of fair and equal treatment for all employees at Bayer. In our own operations, our value chain and our dealings with local communities, we are committed to fair and respectful treatment and compliance with ILO Convention No. 111 (Discrimination).
No one may be unlawfully discriminated against due to protected characteristics such as age, disability, volunteerism, employee representation, ethnicity, marital status, gender, gender expression and identity, skin color, physical features, union membership, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, social background, religion or another criterion.
Although we have no political obligations with respect to inclusion and support measures, we are committed to promoting and maintaining inclusion and equal opportunity for all people within our company culture. The different personalities, experiences, skills, approaches, views and unique abilities, and the time our employees contribute to their work, are an important part of our culture. We demonstrate this by including “Fairness and Respect at Work” in our Code of Conduct and have implemented corresponding commitments and strategies that are designed to prevent discrimination.
Processes to remediate negative impacts and channels for own workers to raise concerns [S1-3]
We cultivate an open and transparent culture. We encourage employees and third parties to raise their concerns with regard to compliance, thereby promoting an environment in which everyone feels able to express concerns. When questions are posed and concerns raised, this helps us to maintain a strong compliance culture. We also provide information, resources and guidance to prevent violations of the law or company rules.
Employees can use our global Speak Up Channel in numerous languages. This is a secure grievance process hosted by an external provider at Bayer that gives everyone (including the public) the opportunity to report alleged compliance violations confidentially (and anonymously, wherever permitted by local law). Employees and third parties can directly contact our compliance department via the email address Speak.up@bayer.com. If employees believe an activity or behavior could represent a material compliance violation, they have an obligation to report this.
Suspected compliance violations are recorded and processed within the scope of monitoring activities conducted by the compliance department. All grievance mechanisms culminate in a standardized system for systematically recording and investigating all types of risks and violations according to uniform criteria throughout the Group. As soon as a report is submitted, it is immediately forwarded to the responsible persons within Bayer for further investigation. The processing of reports takes place according to the guidelines in place for internal investigations.
If contact data is provided, the investigation team makes initial contact within the first seven days in principle. Those submitting reports are generally notified about the progress and conclusion of the investigation. Over the course of the investigation, we examine, for example, the content of the grievance for plausibility, further clarify the facts of the case, implement preventive or remedial measures, if necessary, and examine their effectiveness. All types of information and reports on investigations are only relayed on a strict need-to-know basis, as the highest value is placed on confidentiality and anonymity. A protected and continuous communication channel is opened for the complainant, including beyond the submission of the grievance, by way of a personal access number and password. The effectiveness of the channel is ensured through an ESG effectiveness test carried out in 2025, as well as the Ownership Pulse employee survey with corresponding questions about the channel, both of which were presented to the Board of Management.
By implementing Bayer-wide training measures and communication campaigns that are tailored to target groups and based on identified needs, we support all employees in acting with integrity and proactively avoiding potential violations. Our Code of Conduct forms the basis for our compliance communication and training activities. Both managers and staff from the Law, Patents & Compliance Enabling Function are available to answer employees’ questions about legally correct behavior. For more information on grievance mechanisms, please see Chapter A 4.4.1 Business Conduct.
Processes for engaging with the company’s own workers and workers’ representatives about impacts related to the freedom of association, existence of works councils and the employees’ rights to information, consultation and codetermination as well as social dialogue [S1-2]
In globally operating companies, it is potentially possible that the interests of employees in the respective country companies are not sufficiently taken into account in management decisions by elected representatives and/or trade unions. Both the Code of Conduct and the Bayer Human Rights Policy address the issue of freedom of association. We respect the right and freedom of our employees to join organizations of their choosing. These organizations can participate in wage negotiations in accordance with applicable legal regulations. At all of our sites worldwide, employees have the right to elect their own representatives according to local laws and legal regulations, and we are committed to constructive, open dialogue with our employees and their representatives as well as to the involvement of works councils and unions in accordance with local laws and legal regulations. At various country companies, the interests of the workforce are represented by elected employee representatives who have a right to be consulted on certain personnel-related decisions.
We offer our employees numerous means of actively discussing company-specific topics and scope for optimization via various internal communication channels. We actively involve our workforce in business processes by offering the opportunity for dialogue. Informing employees comprehensively and in good time about upcoming internal company changes, in compliance with the applicable national and international regulations, is very important to us. We measure employee engagement by means of systematic feedback discussions and employee surveys on different topics. This enables us to monitor the effectiveness of our initiatives and, if necessary, implement improvements.
The review of whether the measures have been implemented sustainably is carried out both through the annual HR survey on the implementation of measures relating to freedom of coalition, freedom of association and collective bargaining and through internal audits. We are also working on a concept to better evaluate the effectiveness of our measures aimed at respecting and protecting human rights. The design of the individual measurement systems is being further advanced, taking into account established measurement systems such as supply chain monitoring.
We engage in open and trustful dialogue with employees and employee representatives worldwide. The main dialogue formats are regular employee assemblies and information events for employees, as well as the European Forum, at which employee representatives from European sites engage in discussion with the Board of Management, for example, on topics of overarching relevance to the company.
Inclusion of employees and their views takes place primarily through these existing employee representative bodies. In Germany, there are local works council committees at the respective sites, as well as the Central Works Council and the Group Works Council for inter-site issues. As representatives of the employees, these institutions enforce the rights bestowed on them and meet the obligations imposed on them by the German Works Constitution Act (BetrVG) within their respective scope of responsibilities. Other representative bodies are the aforementioned European Forum and employee representations in individual European countries, which decide themselves on the frequency of meetings, ranging from weekly to monthly or quarterly. Involvement of the employee representatives depends on the topic involved and is based on the statutory codetermination regulations.
In the previously mentioned committees, the topics are presented in each case by those responsible for these topics so that they are directly involved in the discussion pertaining to the feedback. At the same time, minutes are kept of each meeting. The employee representatives have various means of communicating with the employees, be it through the works council members in their units, who regularly engage in dialogue in their respective units, or through the personnel liaison officers (employees in the units), who share information from the works council in organizational unit meetings, departmental meetings or employee assemblies organized by the site works council.
Topics of overarching relevance for different sites, such as human resources policy topics e.g. a new feedback tool, are discussed in the Central Works Council and Group Works Council. For topics relating to a change at a site, the site level becomes involved. The resources for involving the works council vary, as this involvement represents a subtask of numerous HR employees responsible for business consulting. At the same time, it is also a subtask of the respective experts who develop and introduce the human resources policy topic fields.
The aforementioned committees address the previously listed topics. Other committees include the Youth and Education, Diversity and Inclusion, and Occupational Health & Safety and Environmental Protection committees. The issues relating to restructuring and the loss or creation of jobs are initially deliberated within the Economics Committee and subsequently in the relevant site committees in accordance with the German Works Constitution Act (BetrVG).
Operational responsibility for incorporating the results into the company concept does not lie with a specific person, but rather with the persons responsible for the topic, as the topics can range broadly from, for example, “approval of an employee survey” to “negotiations in connection with transformation.” If an organizational change is being considered, for example, operational responsibility for this change lies with the respective manager, who develops this change together with their leadership team in coordination with an HR partner. It is recorded in the onboarding process and in the internal knowledge database for managers that an HR partner is involved here. The latter is trained in the local codetermination rules to ensure that they include the employee representatives in deliberations on the organizational change. We observe the agreements the company has made with the employee representatives in connection with respecting human rights within the company’s workforce. For more information on our Human Rights Policy, please see the section “Holistic policies for managing material sustainability matters [MDR-P]” in Chapter A 4.1 General Information on the Sustainability Statement.